Many people live their lives looking back on the glory days. They look at what they used to be instead of what they are now. They are so caught up in the past that they can’t fully engage in the present. Many athletes try to look back on the great accomplishments that they have achieved. They see the highlights of their life slip away from them as they get older. A. E. Housman talks about these ideas in his poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”. Three messages that A. E. Housman conveys in his poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” are make a mark while while still possible, dying young isn't the worst thing, and sometimes it’s better to leave before your fame does.
The first message that A. E. Housman gives in “To an Athlete Dying Young”
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E. Housman in “To an Athlete Dying Young”, is sometimes it is better to leave before your fame does. As young athletes people work the way up to the peak of their life. Then, for the rest of their life they have to stand by and watch their fame slowly die. They have to come to the realization that they are not what they used to be. On page 1092, Housman states, “Smart lad, to slip betimes away from fields where glory does not stay and early though the laurel grows it withers quicker than the rose.” Housman is saying that it was smart of the young man to die before he has to watch his fame die.
Sometimes in life, a person has to watch their fame perish. They see what they used to be and compare it to what they are now. A.E. Housman did just that in his poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”. The first message that Housman gave was to make a mark on the world while it is still possible. Life can be very unpredictable. The second message was that dying young isn’t the worst thing. By dying young a person misses out on the many sad things of life. The third message was it is sometimes better to leave before your fame does. To watch where a person once was to where they are now can be very
Also that it is okay if it takes you time to accept your adversity or what you are going through. To conclude, what can be learned by these athletes is persistence, to stay positive, and acceptance. The athletes were both persistent when facing their adversity, but different in the way they acted at
“I will never be satisfied!” Many athletes may have heard this statement once or twice in their athletic careers from their coaches, but to hear it come from a parent is very unexpected. In the documentary Trophy Kids, follows the story of five families whose life is centered on their child’s success in sports. It goes behind the scenes of what each of the parent’s strategies are in order to push their child to the next level of becoming the next all-star athlete.
In conclusion, the poem “To Athlete Dying Young” is a very revealing and detailed poem that will explain to readers that even if you are victorious, fame doesn't last
While some believe that athletes should have their own choice at making a decision to go pro straight out of high school, they should not do so because they will not be able to manage their million dollar contracts respectively. Speaking of contracts, the NBA should eliminate guaranteed contracts for rookies drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. They should do this because a careless high school kid, could just go into the draft not knowing, or caring on how much they are going to make, with the lack of experience on handling millions of dollars. This is very unrepsonsibible for a teenager, and not only for the high school athlete, but also for the basketball association as well. This is because of there noncommitment to have these players
“Execution” by Edward Hirsch is about an adult recollecting his thoughts about his high school football career and especially how his coach inspired him because his authoritative role model was battling cancer. The speaker talks about the coach’s goal for “perfect execution” and the infinite strategies the coach would draw up in order to reach his goal. The speaker concludes with their team’s loss against “the downstate team” and how they were ironically defeated by “perfect execution.” A superficial reader might assume that the poem was about the disappointing results that came from his team working hard to reach a goal, but the author’s use of impersonal tone and irony in the fact that their team’s loss is caused by “perfect execution” shows how a strong force can be conquered even when putting your best foot forward when accepting a challenge. Have you ever been a part of a team that seemed invincible and you lost?
In every school I've gone to, all the athletic bastards stick together” (Salinger 24). This illustrates his need to destroy any relationship with anyone who succeeds. Earlier on in the text he describes how he looks up to Stradlater, but now he is generalizing him based off of other athletes. He goes far enough to call them “Bastards”.
In John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player” the poet uses literary devices to depict the existing way of life of a once-famous sportsperson. Flick Webb was in before times a gifted athlete on his high school basketball team, and he was commendable of much awe. However, Flick never acquired any other skills to prepare him for a future. Accordingly, he now is locked into an unskilled job and his former glories have pale to all but Flick himself. Updike has created a character that is at this point in time going nowhere and spends most of his time thinking about his former days of glory.
Young suggests that one should live in the moment and perish before they become obsolete. Young also says, “The king is gone/ but he’s not forgotten/ This is the story of a Johnny Rotten/ It’s better to burn out/ than it is to rust/ The king is gone/
This poem shows that just because something or someone was great does not mean they will be forever. Flick was a talented basketball player who continuously relives his glory days while working as a mechanic. This relates to many people who may have reached their fullest potential in something high school related. The author uses symbolism with basketball to show Flick reliving his past. One specific example happens when the main character, Flick dribbles the tire at the mechanic shop.
Most people say life is extremely valuable and every day is a gift. Personally, I did not believe life was very valuable until I was medicated. With my mental illnesses every day of my life is a struggle, and I have to take medications to have normal brain functions like most people. Before I started taking Zoloft I thought it would be a magic pill that would immediately cure me and make me happy. The first few weeks I honestly thought I was dying, but I believed my doctors when they said the benefits would outweigh the side effects.
At the age of 5, I aspired to either become a professional athlete or an ESPN anchor. Ever since I could remember, I would kick a soccer ball around, dribble a basketball, or throw a baseball around with friends and family. I used to be the league champion and MVP of the team every season, but as time progressed, other competitors would rocket past in height and become the best players because of their size advantage. Although other young athletes became stronger and taller than me, it did not change the passion and commitment I had for sports.
The poems Fern Hill, Behind Grandma’s House, The Road Not Taken, If We Must Die, and Advice To My Son all imply a collective notion that: in the face of pain, hardship and inevitable death, one must live life flourishingly and to its fullest extent, within the text; However, there are several conflicting factors that oppose to this idea.
Why Professional Athletes Go Broke? Young athlete’s main goal to attain is to become a professional athlete. Many want to become a professional athlete due to the money, others for the love of the particular sport that they are interested in. There is a downside in becoming a professional athlete, that many young players are not aware of.
“To an Athlete Dying young” In the poem “To an Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman pg. 682 the author is very complex in telling the celebration of the runner winning the race. But drops simple hints in certain areas of the poem to make clear to the reader of what the poem is about. So the writer strategically places simple and complex details in the poem.
But today's athletes need to understand that they are being viewed in a light that is much brighter than before” (Lowe, 1). Although most people may believe that neither athletes or celebrities should be role models for children, in the reality they are. Yes, it is unfair to expect an athlete, or any celebrity, to basically be a guide for telling people how to live their lives, but it is part of the price of being famous. It is important for today’s athletes to realize that they don’t have much privacy anymore, and that their fans, and the public in general, will find out about most decisions they make in their lives. “Kids pay attention when an athlete shows up for community service events just as much as they pay attention to an athlete's performance in a game the night before” (Lowe, 2).